Hampton City officials have not seen the details of the Antiquities Act that the president is scheduled to sign on Tuesday. However, the size of the proposed park that was agreed to this summer by the National Park Service and state and federal officials and is contained in the bills before Congress is as follows:

A total of 244 acres of direct park ownership, with a total of 324 acres within the park boundary. That puts 57 percent of the fort within the proposed park boundary.

The bipartisan effort has been pursuing two paths — the legislation currently before Congress to create a National Park, and the presidential action to create a National Monument. They are not mutually exclusive; if Congress later approves the park legislation, it would at that time have a name change to Fort Monroe National Historical Park.

Either way, Fort Monroe is expected to be operated as a unit of the National Park Service. The National Park Service operates 75 of the nation's 100 National Monuments.

The main difference between a National Monument and a National Park is the way it obtains its status. (The president has the authority to declare a National Monument, and a National Park is declared by Congress.)

What are some examples?

National Monuments aren't necessarily traditional monument buildings. The first was Devils Tower in Wyo., declared by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, because he thought Congress was moving too slowly. That National Monument's boundary contains 1,347 acres, and it draws about 400,000 visitors per year. The second of Roosevelt's declarations, the Petrified Forest in Arizona, was later declared by Congress to be a National Park.

"Whether it remains a National Monument or becomes Fort Monroe National Historical Park at some point in the future, it will operate like any other unit within the National Park system," said Bruce Sturk, direct of federal facilities for the city of Hampton.

Who currently owns the land at Fort Monroe?

The Army deactivated Fort Monroe on Sept. 15. It is no longer an active Army post. However, the land is still owned by the Army and therefore under federal control.

Much of rest of the post is scheduled to revert to state ownership in January, under control of the Fort Monroe Authority. That agency is developing plans to lease the remaining office, warehouse and residential areas.

The Union hospital complex at Hampton and Fort Monroe grew steadily through the early years of the Civil War, ultimately developing into the North's second largest hospital. It served as the primary receiving point for many of the sick and wounded troops evacuated from Harrison's Landing on the...